Help building a water cooling loop

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
G

geckofooddude

Honorable
Oct 23, 2012
16
0
10,510
Hi, I really really hate computer noise!

My solution to my problem was to set up a water cooling loop, but I'm really new to this (YES I READ THE STICKY!). Would anyone be willing give me suggestions on what I should get for water cooling. My budget is ~$500 for cooling my EVGA GTX 680 and i5 2500k. I was hoping to OC my processor to 4.0Ghz and keep my GPU at stock clocks while keeping my computer pretty much silent (on full load). I already decided that I kinda want the Heatkiller water block and white tubing, but other than that I'm kinda lost. My case has room for a dual 120mm rad on the top and has holes for tubes to go out of the case, so I could mount another dual 120mm rad outside if needed.
 
Solution
B
ANY pump can be made nearly in audible by 2 things:
1) properly bleeding air - micro bubbles can cause a racket you wouldn't believe. Properly bleed your loop.
2) decouplers - using decouplers is like putting shock absorbers in a car - it isolates the vibrations of the pump that when traveling thru a case cause noise. Using decoupling mounts that the pumps screws into, or using a "Shoggy sandwich" (google it :) trust me) will make your pump near dead silent even on a d5 MCP 655 full setting 5. if you open your case you MIGHT hear it, but with the case closed, it will be silent - if decoupled properly.

same thing applies to choosing rads and fans. If quiet is very key to you, then
1) over rad - use more rad space than you are...
Sort by date Sort by votes
manofchalk

manofchalk

Glorious
May 11, 2012
12,914
3
48,960
Well, you'v already read the sticky.

Pull together a loop that you think will work, post it here for feedback. You'l fine the water-coolers here wont just give out a loop config like we would a system build. We think of our job to make this as painless as possible, not to do it for you.

You will definitely need more than 240mm worth of rad space to cool those components.
What case do you have (Design R4?).

Also on the silence aspect, fan noise isnt an issue with water-cooling I find, but the pump definitely is. Its not as bad as an air-cooled rig under load, but definitely noticeable when your sitting next to it for a while. You will want to find a good way to decouple it (which means that 5.25" mounted pumps are out) as vibration too the case is the cause of most of the noise.
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
G

geckofooddude

Honorable
Oct 23, 2012
16
0
10,510
What are some of the quietest pumps? The noise of my computer really gets to me. I heard the swifttech MCP655 was kinda quiet but then again I have no idea. As for the case, I've got a lot of money saved up for this project and I was thinking of swapping my old Thermaltake Level 10 mid-tower for an Obsidian 800D
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
M

MagR

Distinguished
Aug 31, 2009
96
0
18,640
Hi

The Heatkillers have a good reputation for both cpu and gpu blocks. I use an XSPC Raystorm cpu block and EK gpu block and they work well if you want to try something else. I use a Laing D5 Vario pump which is often rebranded (Swiftech 655 is the same pump I think). The D5 Vario has speeds 1-5 and with only two waterblocks the 3 setting is probably enough to get the desired 1 gallon per minute flow and keep noise low. Most pumps don't have variable speed control but you can normally hook them up to a fan controller to vary the voltage.

The previous poster is correct - you need this to be well isolated from the case. I used a pump/bay reservoir combo initially and this proved too noisy (and difficult to bleed). I now have the pump on the floor of the case sitting on a one inch thick lump of foam and it is silent.

As far as overclocking goes 4.0 GHz is very modest for watercooling. My 2500k is at 4.5Ghz and reaches 54 degrees max using Prime 95. I can get it to 5Ghz without the temperatures getting high if I want. You'll notice a bigger change in temps with the gpu. My latest Graphics card is the GTX 770. Running the Heaven benchmark on air this quickly throttled at 80 degrees with Nvidia GPU boost. On water it doesn't throttle at all and the highest temperature is 42 degrees with Heaven. Therefore you may as well overclock the gpu (and VRAM for that matter) as far as you can as voltage, not temperature will determine the maximum speed you can achieve. I've got my GTX770 core running at 1,280Mhz and the memory at 8Ghz and its perfectly stable.

Hope this helps

Mag
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
B

Buzz247

Honorable
Mar 18, 2013
962
1
11,360
ANY pump can be made nearly in audible by 2 things:
1) properly bleeding air - micro bubbles can cause a racket you wouldn't believe. Properly bleed your loop.
2) decouplers - using decouplers is like putting shock absorbers in a car - it isolates the vibrations of the pump that when traveling thru a case cause noise. Using decoupling mounts that the pumps screws into, or using a "Shoggy sandwich" (google it :) trust me) will make your pump near dead silent even on a d5 MCP 655 full setting 5. if you open your case you MIGHT hear it, but with the case closed, it will be silent - if decoupled properly.

same thing applies to choosing rads and fans. If quiet is very key to you, then
1) over rad - use more rad space than you are calculated to need (you'll see why in a sec)
2) if case choice supports it, try to use rads that support 140mm fans rather than 120mm. They are far quieter
3) Choose rads with Low Fin Per Inch (FPI) this allows you to use fans at a lower speed and static pressure and still cool effectively.
4) consider a fan controller - Using high end fans give dramatic performance increase, put being able to turn them down when not needed for performance (i.e. gaming etc) and crank up when needed is a great way to control noise level
 
Upvote 0 Downvote
Solution
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom